Decreased emotional reactivity after 3-month socio-affective but not attention- or meta-cognitive-based mental training: A randomized, controlled, longitudinal fMRI study.

A three-month mental training module focused on socio-affective skills like compassion (the Affect module) reduced negative feelings when viewing images of human suffering and increased brain activity in the right supramarginal gyrus. Two other three-month modules—one cultivating attention and interoceptive awareness (Presence) and another cultivating socio-cognitive skills like theory of mind (Perspective)—did not produce these effects. The findings suggest that compassion-based mental training specifically improves emotion regulation when facing adversity, whereas attention- or meta-cognitive training does not.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Meditation-based mental training interventions show physical and mental health benefits. However, it remains unclear how different types of mental practice affect emotion processing at both the neuronal and the behavioural level. In the context of the ReSource project, 332 participants underwent an fMRI scan while performing an emotion anticipation task before and after three 3-month training modules cultivating 1) attention and interoceptive awareness (Presence); 2) socio-affective skills, such as compassion (Affect); 3) socio-cognitive skills, such as theory of mind (Perspective). Only the Affect module led to a significant reduction of experienced negative affect when processing images depicting human suffering. In addition, after the Affect module, participants showed significant increased activation in the right supramarginal gyrus when confronted with negative stimuli. We conclude that socio-affective, but not attention- or meta-cognitive based mental training is specifically effective to improve emotion regulation capabilities when facing adversity.